THE RINGATU.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 6

THE RINGATU.

The reported invitation to Bishop Bennett of Aotearoa to become the head of the Ringatu Church as well as his own is a decidedly interesting development in the many-coloured history of the Maori patriotic religion. It has yet to be seen whether many of the old Maori Church support the suggestion. Ringa-Tu means "Uplifted Hand," or "Raised Hand," and the name is a continual reminder to the adherents of the faith of ite origin, in the midst of blood and fire , in Taranaki 70 years ago. The ritual of the religion, which has six or seven thousand followers, is based on the form of service framed by Te Kooti, but the original inspiration of the name was the Pai-marire or Hauhau cult invented by Te Ua, the fanatic prophet, which gave a new and more desperate turn to' the wars in 1804. Te Kooti, in framing hie service, when in exile on Chatham Island in 1807-f>B, discarded the Pai-marire pidgin-English chants and made use chiefly of the Psalms and other books of the Old Testament. The result was an inspiring form of worship resembling the Church of England, with some essentially Maori features. Te Kooti called his religion the Wairua-Tapu, or Holy Spirit, but the old-historic name Ringatu is the designation chiefly used to-day. The gesture which gave its name to the faith, too, persists to this day. Te Ua taught his followers to hold up the right hand, palm outwards, on a level with the face, when they repeated the incantations, and to say "Hapa! Pai-marire! Hau!" when they faced the white soldiers in battle, with upraised hand. "Hapa" means to avert or ward off, or pass over; the belief was that the magic word and action would prevent bullets striking the faithful. And, through all the changing fortunes of the Maori, and the various phases and modifications of the religion which fused many tribes together in a holy war against the pakeha, the sign of the lifted hand remains as a symbol of devotion. At Ringatu services in the Urewera Country in recent times, just as on the. King Country border in the 'eighties, one hae seen the worshippers, in their responses, hold the right hand up on a level with the face. So, too, as in other churches, the Ringatu is seen in tfia minister's gesture of blessing. There is much beauty in these services, and much that appeals to the imagination, particularly in the evening gathering in a village wharepuni, euch as those along the Bay of Plenty and back in the ranges, where the half-light and the primitive surroundings and the responses and chants taken up in turn by the dimly-seen groups of people, give a peculiar thrill to the scene and the act of worship. " The Ringatu Church was given official recognition many years ago, and its ministers have the legal status of those of other churches in the performance of marriages. The headquarters of the sect are at Wainui, on the shore of Ohiwa Harbour, where it has been endowed with the block of land occupied by Te Kooti for several years before his death in 1893. The church is well organised; it has exercised a definite influenoe for the betterment of the people along the Bay of Plenty and in other parts of the country where its adherents are numerous. It is gathered from those prominently associated with the church that the Ringatu is not at all likely to merge its identity in the Church of England. Many of its most staunch supporters do not want a head styled a bishop; they wOuld be content with some such title as Tumuaki or head-chief or president, and they are not likely to modify their form of worship to suit that of any other church. The old patriotic feelinj? which was so effectively blended with the religious sentiment is now turned to account in supporting the Government in its efforts to improve the lot of the Maori people. And, as has often been said in the course of controversy over suggested church unions, there are manv' different ways to heaven, and one is just as likely to lead there as the next one. —J.C.